Saudi Arabia’s national football team has had its ups and downs in the last decade, thus far struggling to make a name for itself as a contender in a world full of elite national teams. Nevertheless, the ups and downs of the Saudi program are closely followed by Saudis all over the world and has, for many years, vied to become a real threat to established countries like France, Spain, Brazil, and others.
Lionel Messi
Recent years have seen significant program development with greater access to football and recreation fields in the Kingdom but it has also witnessed a series of new coaches. In that light, the visit of the world’s greatest living player, FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, with the premier Argentinian national squad, was an important moment for the history of football in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. And the Saudi squad did not disappoint; enjoying unexpected success with a surprising 0-0 draw in their Wednesday match.
Argentina is a perennial international contender and a widely watched team across the world due to the dazzling play of elite players like Messi. So when that national team arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, many from the world of football were introduced to a new culture, one that is different from theirs but also similar in many ways – especially in the love for the game.
King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, where the Saudi national team hosted Argentina
Likewise, the hosting of the Argentinian team and the forthcoming friendly was a watershed moment for the Saudi football team and Saudi Arabia itself. It was a historic and memorable event for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and international football. Many Saudis got to see their athletic idols in action for the first time at King Fahad Stadium in Riyadh, a moment in time sure to inspire thousands of Saudis of all ages but especially the youth. Moreover, the Saudis held their own and likely surprised most international football analysts by playing to a 0-0 draw against Argentina in the match held Wednesday, proving that Saudi football may be moving toward contention on the international stage against the premier national teams.
Almost predictably, and despite the overall importance of this friendly, an incident involving an inadvertent gun pointed by a Saudi officer towards Messi as he was escorted into the airport terminal, thronged by admirers and media, was what grabbed the headlines after the Argentinian plane touched down. The video of the event on YouTube elicited some easy jokes from cynics about the Saudi welcoming of the international superstar, particularly from some of the more sensationalistic news outlets and from social media.
That non-incident will almost certainly be forgotten, and Messi himself did not complain about the mistake at all. In fact, the superstar – who has 39 million fans on Facebook – praised the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and expressed enthusiasm to play in Riyadh, saying in a Facebook status update: “On the way to the stadium with my teammates from the Argentine National Team to play against Saudi Arabia, a beautiful and interesting country because of its culture and traditions! I hope that it’s a great game!!”
Football is huge in the Middle East, as it is in Europe, Latin America, and most other places around the globe. But the Middle East has never loomed large in the eyes of international football – until recently. That changed in November of 2010, when FIFA selected Qatar, an oil-rich neighbor of Saudi Arabia, to host the World Cup in 2022, the first time the tournament is to be held in the Middle East. Qatar wowed FIFA with plans for extravagant accommodations for visiting fans, and 12 new stadiums that, as Kyle Stack of Wired wrote, will be eco-friendly soccer utopias. “12 stadiums are to be built in Qatar’s proposed $57 billion plan. The stadium’s primary components are all retractable — its roof, its seats, even its field…There will also be an in-stadium cooling system to keep players and spectators from overheating in a climate where temperatures surpass 100 degrees. Every venue is expected to take part in a countrywide zero-carbon-emissions plan. An off-site solar farm will transfer energy to a city grid. Solar collectors will use the sun’s power to heat up water, which will then be transported to an on-site water storage tank, which will keep the water’s high temperature.”
It is worth noting that, like the watershed moment in Saudi this week, the selection of Qatar to host the games was also the subject of some unwanted criticism, manifesting in a range of accusations about the selection process strongly denied by Qatar and others supposedly involved to frustration over the perceived inability to drink alcohol at events, a very serious tradition for many non-Muslim football fans. However, the decision by FIFA to give the 2022 games to Qatar is nevertheless set to change the Middle East football landscape. And despite the headlines being published now about the non-incident involving Messi’s arrival to Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-Argentina match will outlast the issue of the day to take on a larger meaning for the region.
The Saudi national football team hosts Argentina and Lionel Messi
By hosting Argentina’s national team in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi national football team made history for the Kingdom and the Middle East, and the impact of a hard-fought stalemate match with an international powerhouse and the world’s best player will be lasting, particularly in the development of the sport throughout the region.
